Health and Safety Organizations, Government Agencies

WEC

New Jersey Work Environment Council (WEC) is a membership alliance of labor, environmental, and community organizations working for safe, secure jobs and a healthy, sustainable environment. HPAE works closely with WEC to strengthen health and safety and environmental standards and WEC provides health and safety training to our members.

The OSHA website has information about OSHA standards and health and safety topics by subject and industry, including a page devoted to healthcare facilities.

PEOSH

HPAE members who work in the public sector in New Jersey are covered by Public Employees Occupational Safety and Health (PEOSH), part of the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. If you are thinking there may be an OSHA violation at your workplace you should contact your local HPAE Local President or Staff Representative for assistance.

CDC

CDC is the federal Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. There is an alphabetical list at the top of the CDC webpage to look up subjects such as influenza, emerging infectious diseases, and neo-plastic drugs, to name a few. CDC is also responsible for issuing guidelines and recommendations to hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

NIOSH

NIOSH is the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health and is part of the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC). It is considered the research arm of OSHA. It funds occupational safety and health research, conducts health hazard evaluations upon the request of unions and employers, supports academic training of health and safety professionals, and provides technical support.

News

On October 31, 2018, the New Jersey Office of Public Employees’ Occupational Safety and Health (PEOSH) issued a citation against Cornerstone Behavioral Health Hospital resulting from a health and safety complaint filed by our union.

Deaths of children — nine from viral outbreak in Passaic County, one from bacterial outbreak in an Essex County hospital with ‘major infection control deficiencies’ — leads to new inspections, training

The NJ Department of Health is dispatching a team of infection-control officials and experts to inspect five pediatric facilities next month in the aftermath of two separate viral and bacterial outbreaks..

Our union supports this legislation which serves to ensure that Workers Compensation coverage for First Responders - including nurses and healthcare workers – is appropriately provided without long costly legal battles.

On behalf of addiction treatment workers at American Addiction Center’s Sunrise House facility in Lafayette, on January 13, 2017 HPAE formally requested that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seek a temporary injunction against the employer in order to prevent

At a public meeting sponsored by OSHA, HPAE Vice President Bernie Gerard and Local 5089 Grievance Chair Banita Herndon supported a national OSHA standard to prevent workplace violence in healthcare and social assistance workplaces.

Since the 125 staff members at AAC/Sunrise House voted overwhelmingly in favor of union representation with HPAE on June 29, 2016, management has committed a number of violations of workers' rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).

Virtua Memorial Hospital reached a settlement yesterday with OSHA regarding citations and penalties which were issued on November 14th for various violations of the agency's regulations and policies on safe patient handling.

A BRMC nurse who was brutally assaulted in 2015 by a patient known to be violent won a grievance case against the Paramus facility, which must cover some medical expenses and back pay, an arbitrator has ruled.

Bergen Regional Medical Center must pay for an employee's medical expenses after she was attacked by a patient and accused the hospital of failing to offer a safe work environment, an arbitrator has ruled.

New Jersey health officials only have records for five of the eight alleged cases of workplace violence inside Bergen Regional Medical Center that were detailed in a federal report, the acting health commissioner told lawmakers on Monday. Acting state Health

From The Record Bergen County Executive James Tedesco called Wednesday for sweeping action to stem the violence at Bergen Regional Medical Center, including assigning more police to the facility, ordering the hospital to hire consultants to assess safety and patient

In 2013, a 6-year-old girl in the juvenile psychiatric ward at Bergen Regional Medical Center was sexually accosted by a young boy who was also a patient, according to a lawsuit filed by the girl’s mother. The following year,